latest pictures that we've been getting out of tunisia. anti-american protests continue there. rioting police firing tear gas at rock throwing protesters. they breached the wall of the u.s. embassy. they tore down the u.s. flag of our embassy. and also hoisted a black flag oftentimes symbolic of the far radical wing of islam and oftentimes al qaeda as well. these are some of the latest pictures that we've been getting in from the capital of tunisia. again, reaching the u.s. embassy in tunis, the capital of tunisia. in sudan, in khartoum the capital there. protesters targeting american, british and german embassies and setting fire to the german embassy. so far the protests that are outside the american embassy have been peaceful but these are the images elsewhere. the british and the german

embassies seeing the most voils in khartoum, sudan. in egypt the muslim brotherhood has cancelled a nationwide call to demonstrate. before the announcement was made several hundred protesters were clashing with riot police near the u.s. embassy in cairo anyway. right now thousands of protesters are gathering in tahrir square, again despite the fact that the call for the nationwide protest by the government and its party in support -- its leadership party called off that protest and yet they are in the streets. in yemen, police fired tear gas and water canons at demonstrators who were trying to march on the u.s. embassy. in response a senior american official says u.s. marines, a security team now being sent to yemen to help protect the american diplomatic installations. elsewhere, lebanon, at least one person has been killed after

police fired on thousands of protesters in the second largest city in lebanon, tripoli, lebanon. so the violence is spreading. we have reporters throughout this region bringing you the latest. first i want to take you to the sudan. can you get me up to speed on the very latest and specifically the united states embassy the latest we had is that the protests were somewhat peaceful outside of the u.s. embassy not so the british and german embassies. . >> reporter: what we know so far protesters in the hundreds outside of the u.s. embassy. u.s. embassy is on the outskirts of khartoum.

is they don't have the large numbers. just at the german embassy. the embassy was essentially on fire. protesters climbed in, jumped down the building. the uk embay the flirkt to the german embassy. >> we're having a hard time hearing you. you have your security concerns as well. i'm going to move on. stay with us and bring us up to date i want to establish a better connection with you and

get further information from you. we have a lot of areas of unrest. i want to move onto our next location, cairo. thousands of demonstrators gathering in tahrir square in defiance of the muslim brotherhood and their leadership. earlier today muslim brotherhood calling off nationwide protests. what do things look like right now? did they not get this message? >> reporter: ashley, the brotherhood did cancel the protest but said they would do a symbolic protest saying they support their voice but not going to go down there. what we're seeing in tahrir is a couple of thousand protesters. that number has remained steady. it's going on 5:00 in the afternoon here now going into the evening and we haven't seen that number rise or fall. but if you go just about 200 yards towards the american embassy from tahrir the clashes are still ongoing and's okay

listed. protesters are trying to go around that barrier that the police built to keep protesters away from the embassy, protesters tried to outplank it but what police were ready for them using tear gas to disperse them. that's very much the clashes are still ongoing. these clashes have continued since wednesday night. they don't look like they are going stop any time soon. >> ian, i think there were a lot of people who were surprised when the muslim brotherhood called off that national request for protests. there was some high level diplomat jake work going on that we don't know about? >> reporter: it's hard to say. the message, what we saw came over the twitter feed that they were calling it off saying that they wanted to make sure there wasn't any violent clashes, violent outbursts around the city and wanted people to remain calm and that's really what we're hearing from the muslim brotherhood.

but, you know, their calls were for peaceful protests, but around tahrir, around the u.s. embassy we've seen these protests continue. a lot of people are wondering why hasn't mohamed morsi done more. he's one. leading figures in the muslim brotherhood. he's the president of egypt. why hasn't he urged his supporters to go down and stop these protesters from clashing with the police. they definitely have a lot of clout here in egypt. a lot of people are wondering why he hasn't made that move yet. that's to be seen if he will or won't. >> that was my next question whether he made any public statements about the violence or whether he in fact may have had private conversations with this group that he's such an integral member of the muslim brotherhood and whether he has had some doing in trying to tap down the call for protests that could lead to violence. >> reporter: he definitely has called for restraint from protesters and for peaceful

demonstrations. he encouraged people to go out and protest but peacefully. we're seeing around the u.s. embassy he said he was is going to protect diplomatic missions. so far sin that tuesday night the breaching at the u.s. embassy, he has made good on his promise and the police have been able to cordon off the embassy, making sure protesters are unable to get there. if you look at these protesters they are not a wide spectrum of egyptian society. these are boys in their teens and early 20s, some as young as 6, 7 and 8, straight children. this is not a cross section of egyptian society. this is a certain demographic and we've seen this demographic before in other protest, they are on the front lines fighting with police. it's uncertain how much they really do support the cause to protect islam or how much of this is really just boys going down to fight the police.

ian lee live in cairo. i want to move on the lebanon. we're learning more about the attacks in benghazi that resulted in the death of chris stevens and three of his colleagues. sean smith was online the night of the attack. he sent messages one of them to a friend online. while protesters were gathering outside of the consulate and he said this. assuming we don't die tonight. we saw one of our "unquote police that guard the compound taking pictures. cnn armand damon joins us now. you had a chance to walk through that compound. give me a feel for what you've seen, what you witnessed in the aftermath of these murders. >> reporter: it really is quite chilling to be standing inside

that compound, even with the bare information we have trying to piece together the events that transpired there on tuesday. the buildings are gutted. they have been burned. there's black soot across many of the walls. there's debris littering the floors. there's some -- we spoke with a security guard, a libyan security guard and even though he said the security guard is only armed with a radio who was manning one of the main entrances into the consulate compound and he described a simultaneous assault that took place from three directions, incredibly intense heavy machine gunfire grenade rocket-propelled grenade. he said maced men and men with large weapons, they grabbed him, held him at gunpoint and threatened to kill him because they said he was protecting the infidels. again, after that happened,

another individual who was part of this attacking group did, though, step in and basically saved him allowing him to leave. while we were on the ground earlier today, the head of libya's general national congress was touring the site as well and he said at this point in time the government does, in fact, believe that these attacks were carried out by extremists. they detained four individuals in association with them, not yet identifying which group they are affiliated with but the government also saying that they believe these attacks were pre-planned and intended to inflict maximum damage on western specifically u.s. interests. the government says that the motive is to drive apart from libyans and the americans but this most certainly underscoring how critical it is for the libyan government at this point in time to rein in these various and numbered extremist militias operating here. >> quickly you mentioned those four arrests. with the note that was sent out to the gaming community that

there were police taking photos, do we have any idea whether perhaps some of those photos may have led to those arrests, somehow there had to be an access and investigation had to get to these four people. >> reporter: the government is alluding to the fact that part of the evidence taken from the scene by a variety of different individuals who were there, a lot of fingers pointing to an organization called ansar al sharia. they are an al qaeda affiliated group. they have direct responsibility for the assaults but many people believing that they were in fact somehow to some degree involved in this. they have claimed responsibilities for various attacks against western interests in the past. this attack is not an isolated incident. there's been mounting attacks against western interests, the icrc, the uk ambassador over the past few months. many libyans who we have been

speaking to have been imploring us to put out a message that this is not an action that was support by the population here. this is not why they went out the revolt against moammar gadhafi. this most certainly is not the course they want to see the country taking. many of them, all of them wanting to see the government disband these militias. the government is admitting at this point in time they are incapable of reining in these extremist gangs. >> arwa damon live in benghazi. thank you. putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

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350,000 students shut out of the classroom for the fifth day in the rule as chicago's school board and teachers are struggling to come up with a middle ground on their impasse pap resolution may and i stress may be near. both sides are saying progress is being made in the talks concerning pay and teacher evaluations and benefits which were really the toughest sticking points in this problem. let's take you live to chris welch who is live on location in chicago. the negotiations resumed about two hours ago and we're hearing there's some reason to believe that a meeting today may intimate that there could be a deal on the table. why is that?

>> reporter: well, you know, that's certainly what both sides are hoping for and something if does come dui, if something does happen it will happen right here. we're standing in front of a union hall. about 2:00 local time here in chicago about 800 delegates of the chick teachers union are expected to come here and essentially vote on some type of resolution. that is, of course, if they can come to some form of an agreement this morning. they resumed talks again this morning around 9:00 and officials on both sides of this issue are hopeful. i want to give you a listen. this is barbara bird bennett with the chicago public schools. we don't have that sound. essentially what folks are saying they are optimistic, the tone changed yesterday. yesterday essentially really the first day of talks where be folks took a different tone in this. they said we're optimistic. we're going into friday thinking we could have kids back in school as early as monday.

so we got 350,000 kids out of school. 30,000 teachers striking. it's been quite a week and nobody want this to drag on for very much longer. >> especially the children and the teachers who are so, so terribly affected by this. chris welch, thank you for that. i want to bring in jay who has been teaching for 25 years and a chicago teachers school board member. this is your third time on the program. i hope you had a deal by now. what about today, jay. we're hearing there's this meeting and the specifics of that meeting, those 800 or so members that chris just alluded to are the kinds of members that have to vote on a potential deal. does that tell you it's good news? >> you know what? i have to tell you, thank you again for letting me be on the show. all we got is it's an up where date today at 2:00. of course everyone is hopeful, but we are also resolute. sort of to paraphrase yogi bera

as an english teacher it's not over until it's over. i'm optimistic and oil be at the house of delegates at 2:00. until it's over it's not over. >> truly when you say an up where date it's to get you up to speed as to how bad things could be? >> i don't mean to be evasive but it could be very good news or could be we're going keep on going. honestly i checked with my leadership just a few minutes ago and at this point it's an update and basically the house of delegates -- >> what happened? >> what happens is the house of delegates will meet. we'll get an update and may get a recommendation and may say now is the time for us to settle. if you want to. and the membership will vote on that. the house of dels will vote on that. or she may turn around and say we're not that close. i think we should keep going and, what do you think? of course the house of delegates

will be resoundingly with her whatever way she kind of comes in. on the other hand if she somehow a third option she says i'm not sure what do you think of this deal we'll have to take a closer look. the longer the meeting goes the more you'll know which way it's going. >> let's hope it's good news and let's hope there's some resolution and kids are back in school by monday. jay, thanks for the update. appreciate it. >> thank you very much. i want to keep everyone else up to date on the latest with this and other education news. we have a great blog, i encoure you to go there. called schools of thought. find it at cnn.com/education. at purina one,

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you know we still don't know very much about the man behind all of the outrage, all of the mess around the world right now. the man whose film started off the fire storm rage that's now spread from egypt to libya and to yemen and tunisia and sudan and lebanon and as we speak there could be more protests emerging because this is friday prayers. but from the information that we do have about this filmmaker, it is safe to say that he has a

very shadowy past. he says his name is sam bacile but he's also named as nakoula basseley nakoula and several other ali as. he was convicted in 2009 of bank fraud. he lives in cerritos, california and married with two children. miguel marquez has further details on this man. >> reporter: he's the shadowy maker of a low budget anti-islamic film who has a criminal past and many ali as. as we discovered for good reason. in 1997 bacile, his real name nakoula basseley nakoula spent a year in prison convicted of intenth to manufacture methamphetamine. in 2010 he spent another year this time in federal prison for fraud. these are just some of the documents for criminal cases against sam bacile or nakoula basseley nakoula. it is clear by going through these that investigators had a hard time tracking him down as well. the guy had several addresses,

many social security numbers, and lots of names. court documents showed he used 17 different names including sam bacile, p.j. tobacco and thomas tanas. anyone having anything to do with sam bacile is scared to death right now across los angeles. this is neighborhood in long beach, a man that lives here says that nakoula basseley nakoula used his address to get credit cards and conduct some of the fraudulent activity that he carried out. he found out about it, called the police and hasn't seen him since. numbers associated with bacile's many identities turned up nothing. >> the number you dialed is not a work number. >> reporter: even anti-islamic activists said they were never sure who he was. >> sam is not his real name. i knew that. >> reporter: the same is true for the actors in his movie. >> he told me he was from israel today. he told me he was going to show the movie in egypt and either i

assumed he was from egypt or -- >> he led you to believe he was egyptian. >> yes. because that's what i believed. >> reporter: this is the best address we have for sam bacile or nakoula basseley nakoula. you can see all of the media are camped out here. we'll try one more time to talk to him. [ knocking on door ] >> reporter: mr. bacile, mr. nakoula basseley nakoula. it's miguel marquez with cnn. this house at the center for of answers with many questions heading over his head. >> it seems miguel has made contact with fbi. he's not under direct investigation for anything and we need to make that clear, right? >> reporter: as far as we know owes not.

they haven't closed the door completely on that. what the fbi doesn't want to do, they don't want to overreact. they don't want to do the same thing that other people have done. they don't want to make the mistake of shutting down free speech and creating problems in a different way. so they want to investigate everything having to do with this case, including his past including what he told his cast members and there there was any fraudulent activity in making thisfilm. at this point he doesn't seem to be under direct threat of investigation. >> i you know got your hands on the film permit for the film that is now called "innocence of muslims." what did it shed light on in terms of the story? >> reporter: these film permits are just given out. the film did air or showed just a couple of blocks from here in some form in june but the film permit itself are usually public record, usually very simple to get them, usually no controversy

whatsoever. when we tried to get there county of los angeles said that they could not provide the film records because of federal authorities had seized it and didn't want it in public because they feared it would create a bigger threat out there which leads one to believe it was an over eager agent that closed off all information, or there is something in that film permit that is clearly and obviously inflammatory. >> there's been so much reporting. he called himself an israeli-american, now becoming more clear he may be egyptian, coptic christian. specifically there have been jewish groups who have been very angered at the reports that there was, i think, he or his colleagues had released a report that 100 jewish people financed this movie. that's not necessarily truetter. >> reporter: not true at all. it was just another dangerous deception he was playing. he is a coptic christian.

cnn spoke to the bishop of the coptic christian church he goes to here in the los angeles area. i've spoken to friends of his who are egyptian. they've confirmed that he's egyptian. i want seems he perhaps wanted the israeli thing out there perhaps to fan the flames further or to make it seem as though he had more connections than he actually had. but now, the frustrating part for coptics in egypt where they have had a lot of problems before, this may become a bigger problem for them. it may backfire for a way he didn't intend. >> miguel, good work in tracking down those details. miguel marquez live for us in los angeles today. or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

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[ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with the citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] some live pictures for you now from the values voter summit under way in washington. bill bennett live at the microphone right now and not the only one who is there. 53 days before the election family research council is gathering some of the biggest names on the far right and among them the president of that organization tony perkins seen earlier on getting to the microphone and introducing this man, rand paul. also minnesota congresswoman and former presidential hopeful herself michele bachmann speaking to the council. the group will hear from the biggest name at this conference,

republican presidential nominee paul ryan who is seen here yesterday on a brief return to his current job which is still on capitol hill. he's still got to be one of those voters on particular legislation. but today he's expected to really amp up those partisan attacks on president obama's foreign policy, especially with what's happening right now across the fwloeb and that brings me to my colleague wolf blitzer who is live with me in washington, d.c. i'm expecting he will echo what his running mate mitt romney has been doing refusing to back down on the harsh critic jims how obama and the administration is handling what's going on right now and particularly in a pointed interview with one of our colleagues in the media, george stephanopolous. >> this is what romney said. he's not apologizing at all for his initial or subsequent comments about how the obama administration handled the unrest both in cairo as well as in benghazi.

listen to this. >> what i said was exactly the same conclusion the white house reached which was that the statement was inappropriate that's why they backed away from it. >> they didn't say they were showing sympathy for the attackers. >> i think it was not directly applicable and appropriate for the setting. i think it should have been taken down and apparently the white house felt the same way. >> in no direct response when the president says i shoot first aim later. >> this is politics. i won't worry about the campaign. >> interesting, some of romney's top national security foreign policy advisors even go further and they are almost completely blaming at least in part blaming i should say blaming the president and his supposed weak policies in the middle east and elsewhere for encouraging the kind of violence in egypt and libya that spreading throughout north africa. a former reagan administration official who is now a top national security advisor to romney making that kind of

assertion in the "the washington post" today. >> other reagan officials said quite the opposite as well that this isn't the time to be making partisan attacks and should stop at our shores. given the fact we're in the campaign season and given the fact this is dominating the news headlines right now a lot of people were wondering if it would get traction. i'm not sure the polls are reflecting what's going on and the attacks on what's going on because it's only been three or four days. what are the most recent polls showing us. >> these polls were done before benghazi, before care jobs before the violence in the middle east. having said that we've done our cnn poll of polls. this is what we have when we do the average of all of these major polls. 49% right now for obama. 46% for romney. this is after the convention but before the violence. these poll numbers as you know, they are works in progress and they go up and go down. certainly they can change.

we'll see if at all they chan as a result of what's going on in the middle east. when you least expect it in the world of politics there cab surprise that can make some major changes in these final weeks before a presidential election. we've seen it before. we might, might be seeing it now. >> let's also talk about how the debates may change things as well as we approach debate season. mr. romney had a specific accusation that he levelled regarding how he thinks the president is going to perform in those debates. let's listen to his answer in this interview. >> i think the challenge that i'll have in the debate is that the president tends to, how shall i say it, say things that aren't true. >> wolf, you can couch i want anyway you want that's calling the president a liar. >> that's a serious accusation. let's see specifically how he backs it up with x, y and z, where is the president lying, what is he saying that's not true. one of the three presidential debates as you know will be

strictly devoted foreign policy and national security. i'm sure they will get into all of this. but as can you obviously see as well there's no love lost between president obama and governor romney right now. these final seven weeks, eight weeks or so whatever it is it will be intense. >> all right. wolf blitzer thank you. i want to cut away from you. you'll be back at 4:00 for "the situation room," 4:00 eastern, 1:00 pacific here on cnn, i'm only cutting away because i need to get a live moment at the value voters summit. here's the guest of honor. paul ryan has taken to the podium. this is the gathering of social conservative, folks and make no mistake this was expected. we got a protester -- that wasn't expected but a protester being led out of the auditorium as vice presidential candidate paul ryan begins his speech and what was expected this will be a blistering attack, the attack will continue on the foreign

policy of the administration especially in light of what's happening and sort of the explosion of violence against american interests overseas. let's listen. >> it's good to be here. [ applause ] >> it's good to be part of the values voter summit once again and this time i bring greetings from the next president of the united states, governor mitt romney. [ cheers and applause ] in this election millions of americans count themselves as value voters. i'm a values voter too. in 53 days we have a choice between two very different ideas about our country. how we were meant to live. and what we were meant to be. it's the kind of choice that can

never be taken for granted. peace, freedom and civilized values have enemies in this world. as we've been reminded by events in egypt, libya and yemen. we've all seen the images of our flag being burned. and our enemies under attack by vicious mobs. the worst of it is the loss of four good men, including our ambassador to libya. they were there for the most peaceful purposes in service t our country. an today our country honors their lives and grieves with their families. [ applause ] all of us are watching events closely. but we know who america is dealing with in these attacks. they are extremists who operate

by violence and inti my addition and the least equestion vocation or mixed signal only makes them bolder. look across that region today. and what do we see? the slaughter of brave d dissidents in syria. mobs storming consulates. iran four years closer to getting a nuclear weapon. israel, our best ally in the region treated with indifference bordering on contempt by the obama administration. [ applause ] amid all these threats and dangers what we do not see is steady, consistent american leadership. in the days ahead and in the years ahead, american foreign policy needs moral clarity and firmness of purpose. [ applause ]

only by the confident exercise of american influence are evil and violence overcome. that is how we keep problems abroad from become being crises, that is what keeps the peace. and that is what we will have in a romney/ryan administration. [ cheers and applause ] in the all-important election of 2012, values voters are also economic voters. this election will hold the incumbent accountable for his economic failures and affirm the pro growth agenda of mitt romney. it is true that president obama, he had a lot of problems northwest his own making. but he also came in with one-party rule. and a chance to do everything of his own choosing. the obama economic agenda failed

not because it was stopped, but because it was passed. [ applause ] that's a key distinction. [ applause ] and here's what we got. prolonged joblessness across the country. 23 million americans struggling to find work. family income in decline. 15% of americans living in poverty. the record is so uniformly bad that maybe you've noticed something. president obama himself almost never even uses the word record. that is except when he's trying to trade on the record of bill clinton. in his convention speech the president never said that simple word, record. he didn't say the other word

stimulus either. because he wasted $831 billion of borrowed money. at a time of mass unemployment, he didn't even say unemployment. because we're in the slowest recovery since the great depression. and by the way, he didn't even use the word recovery either. never mind the recovery was what all america expected from barack obama. you see, he wants us to forget all of these things and lately he's been trying out a new tactic. it's a classic barack obama straw man. if anyone dares point out the facts of his record why then they are just being negative and pessimistic about the country. the new straw man is people hoping for the decline of america. you know, it's pretty sad but this is the closest president obama can come these days to sounding positive himself but we have to face up to all that has

gone wrong these past four wears so that the next four years can be better. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, we cannot afford to make economic failure a two term proposition. [ applause ] you know lately the president has been also trying out sports comparisons. he compares his fourth year of his term to the fourth quarter of a basketball game. you can expect more of this. because if there's one thing that the man can do, is talk a good game. [ laughter ] only problem is the clock is running out and he still hasn't put any points on the board. [ applause ] his whole case these days is basically asking us to forget what he promised four years ago even if use instead on his new

promises. that's a fast move to get around accountability. he made those ringing promises to get elected. without them he wouldn't be president. and now he asks as if it's unfair to measure his performance against his own words. but here's the question. if barack obama's promises weren't good then, what good are they now? if we renew the contract we're going to get the same deal. if we renew the contract, we'll get the same deal with only one difference. in a second term he will never answer to you again. in so many ways, in some ways starting with obama care, re-electing this president would set in motion things that can never be called back. it would be a choice to give up so many other choices when all the mandates of government-run

health care comes down the last thing the regulators want to hear is your opinion. when the obama tax increases start coming, nobody in washington is going to ask whether you can afford them or not. when all of the new borrowing brings our national debt to $20 trillion and then $25 trillion, nobody is going ask you about the debt crisis or even help you prepare for it. but we the people need to think ahead. even if our current president will not in order to avoid the crisis while there's still time. everyone knows that president obama inherited a bad economy. and four months from now, when mitt romney is sworn in as president, he will inherit a bad economy. here's the difference. when romney/ryan administration takes office we'll also take responsibility. [ cheers and applause ]

instead of dividing up the wealth, our new president will get america creating wealth again. [ applause ] we're going to revive free enterprise in this country to get our economy growing faster and to get our people back to work. [ applause ] on the path that this president has set, by the time my kid are my age, the federal government will be far bigger and more powerful even than it is today. at that point this land of free men and women will have become something it was never intended to be. we were expected to meekly submit to this fate, but i got a different idea and i'm betting that most americans share it. i want my children to make their own choices to define happiness

for themselves and to use the gifts that god gave them and live their lives in freedom. [ cheers and applause ] that's the american idea. [ applause ] you know, you say things like this, and our opponents will quickly accuse you of being anti-government. president obama frames the debate this way, because here again it's the only kind of debate he can win against straw man arguments. no politician is more skilled in striking heroic imposes against imaginary adversaries. [ audience chanting usa ]

thank you. let me say it again in case you didn't hear. [ cheers and applause ] we all know this. no politician is more skilled as striking heroic imposes against imaginary adversaries. nobody is better than rebuking non-existent opinions. barack obama does this all the time. in this campaign we are going to call him on it. [ cheers and applause ] the president is given to lectures on all that we owe to government, as if anyone who

oppose his reckless expansion of federal power of capable of ingratitude. he treats free enterprise as little more than revenue support for government. he uses government as the allocator of opportunity. well, the results are in for that too. here we are, four years of economic stewardship under these self-proclaimed advocates of the poor and what do they have to show for it? more people in poverty. lesser upper mobility wherever you look. after four years of dividing people up with the bogus rhetoric of class warfare just about every segment of society is worse off. to see all this played out in any country would be bad en. see it becoming the daily experience of life in the united states is utterly contrary to everything we are entitled to expect. mitt romney knows that this

country and all the millions who are awaiting for their working lives to begin again were made for better things. to brother the words of another mentor of mine, jack kemp -- [ laughter ] >> i had to do that for dr. bennett. we understand that no government in history has been able to do for people what they have been able to do for themselves when they were free to follow their hopes and their dreams.

as a matter of fact, on the seven occasions i've been sworn in as a member of congress, i have never taken an oath to the government. the oath that all of us take is to support and defend the constitution of the united states under which government is limited and the people are sovereign. [ cheers and applause ] that's what we do. that's who we are.

in the experience of real life, the most important things we belong to, they have an important hold on us. i'm catholic not because anyone order me to accept a creed but because of the grace in truth revealed in my faith and that's how we all feel about the fate we hold. in the same way we americans give ourselves over tory kind of good cause. we do this for the simple reason that our hearts and conscience have called us to do the work that needs doing, to fill a place that no one else can fill. it's like that with our families and communities too. the whole life of this nation is carried forward every day by the endless unselfish things people do for one another without giving it much thought. in books, they call this civil society. in my own experience, i know it as james lewis wisconsin.

[ applause ] . it's a place like 10,000 others. nothing good happens without government claiming credit for it. that's how life is supposed to work in a free country. [ applause ] . nothing undermines the essential and honorable work of government more than the abuse of government power. this is what happened to the catholic church and catholic charities this past january when the newman dates of obama care started coming. nerve mind your own conscience

they were basically told and from now on you're going to do things the government's way. ladies and gentlemen, you would be hard pressed to find another group in america that does more to serve the health of women and their babies than the catholic church and catholic charities. [ applause ] and now suddenly we have obama care bureaucrats dictating how they will do it. asnoyha goverd ts ate isot threa a insult to one religious group, it is a threat and insult to every religious group. [ applause ] he and i are honored to stand with you, people of faith and concerned citizens in defense of our religious liberty. [ applause ]

i can assure you when mitt romney is elected, we will get to work on day one to repeal that mandate and all of obama care. [ cheers and applause ] finally when he tries to make big government sound reasonable and inexclusive the president likes to say we're all in this together. here too he has another handy straw man. anyone who questions the wisdom of his policies must be lacking in compassion. who else would question him but those mean people who think that everybody has to that everybody has to go it alone and fend for themselves? we're all in this together. it has a nice ring.

for everyone who loves this country, it's not only true but obvious. yet, how hallow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born. [ applause ] >> giving up any further pretense of moderation on this issue and in complete disregard from millions of pro-life democrats, president obama has chosen to pander to the most extreme elements of his party. in the clinton years the stated goal was to make abortion safe, legal, and rare, but that was a

different time and a different president. now apparently the obama-biden ticket stands for an absolute unqualified right for abortion at any time, under any circumstance, and even at taxpayer expense. when you get past all of the president's strawmen, what we believe is plain too state. these vital questions should be decided not by the caprice of unelected judges but by the conscience of the people in their elected representatives. [ applause ] >> and in this good-hearted country we believe in showing compassion for mother and child alike.

we don't write anyone off in america. especially those without a voice. every child has a place and purpose in this world. everyone counts. in a just society, the law should stand on the side of life. [ applause ] so much of our history has been a constant striving to live up to the ideals of our founding, about rights and their ultimate source. at our opponents' convention a rowdy dispute broke out over the mere mention of that source. i mean, for most of us it was settled long ago that our rights come from nature and nature's god, not from governments. very clear.

that's the american idea. a disregard for rights. a growing government in a static economy. a country where everything is free but us. this is where it is all tending. this is where we are being taken by the president's administration. this is the road we are on, but my friends, that road has an exit just ahead, and it is marked tuesday, november 6, 2012. we can be confident in the rightness of our cause and also in the integrity and readiness of the man who leads it. he is a solid and trustworthy, faithful and honorable man. not only